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Home  »  Modern American Poetry  »  Little Things

Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern American Poetry. 1919.

Orrick Johns1887–1946

Little Things

THERE’S nothing very beautiful and nothing very gay

About the rush of faces in the town by day;

But a light tan cow in a pale green mead,

That is very beautiful, beautiful indeed…

And the soft March wind and the low March mist

Are better than kisses in a dark street kissed…

The fragrance of the forest when it wakes at dawn,

The fragrance of a trim green village lawn,

The hearing of the murmur of the rain at play—

These things are beautiful, beautiful as day!

And I shan’t stand waiting for love or scorn

When the feast is laid for a day new-born…

Oh, better let the little things I loved when little

Return when the heart finds the great things brittle;

And better is a temple made of bark and thong

Than a tall stone temple that may stand too long.